If you ever wonder about the true acting chops of Nicolas Cage, I’d tell you to go and watch Pig. Indeed, I feel as though Cage is one of those guys in the grand landscape of Hollywood that isn’t appreciated as much as he should be. For the better part of the last decade, he’s been a bit of a punching bag. People have really been sinking their teeth into his selection in roles, even though he did all those direct-to-DVD type of releases to keep the IRS at bay, and to keep his mother out of a mental institution. My man was out here doing anything and everything to get the bag. I thought that was commendable in this country? I don’t get it. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. My point is that Cage is one of the more underrated craftsmen in the game.

Since he’s back in the periphery of moviegoers in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (which I absolutely cannot wait to see), I figured there’d be no better time than now to relive some of his highest grossing movies to see what his box office resumé looks like. Also, our resident film critic, Brandon Vick, and I recently got together for an episode of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast, on which we dive into Cage’s filmography and offer up our own Nicolas Cage Mount Rushmores. So, let’s get on to the top 10 – my source for the dollar amounts was IMDB.

Nicolas Cage’s Highest Grossing Films

10. Knowing: $188M – Okay then. I don’t even remember this movie being a thing, much less it making nearly $200M at the box office. I mean, hey – if this is your thing, then good for you. Take your victory lap. I think Knowing might’ve been Men In Black’ed from my memory.

9. City of Angels: $199M – Good for City of Angels! I knew it was a cultural phenomenon back in 1998, even if I was just 12 years old, because of how that Goo Goo Dolls song was everywhere. I’m glad to see that it raked in some serious dough back then. Why? I’m not sure – I’m just happy to see movies like this show up on someone’s top 10 highest grossing list.

8. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: $215M – I’m not even going to try and lie like I’ve even seen this movie. It looked bad from the jump. I remember seeing previews for it in 2010 and thinking, “what are we doing here?” Then, the reviews came out, I said “no thanks,” and haven’t looked back. Don’t get me wrong – I’m glad someone made some money off of it…but that’s about all it had going for it.

7. Con Air: $224M – Hell yeah, now we’re talking! Now, we’re getting into some real iconic Nicolas Cage. Depending on who you ask, Con Air might be THE iconic Nicolas Cage.

6. Ghost Rider: $229M – I would be all in on Nicolas Cage showing up as Ghost Rider in one of the random MCU multiverse movies. Look – for all of the flack this movie gets, I don’t think it’s half as bad as many claim it to be. It fits right in with the early 2000s era superhero movies in my book. Is it as good as that Spider-Man run? No. But, is it as bad as that Fantastic Four run? Also no.

5. Gone in 60 Seconds: $237M – I think this might’ve been the first time a young Stoney noticed Nicolas Cage. Of course, at the blossoming young age of 14 years old, I thought he was the definition of cool. Gone in 60 Seconds is quintessential Cage in my book.

4. Face/Off: $246M – I have been dying to go back and re-watch Face/Off because the only time I’ve ever sat down and watched it all the way through, I was blind drunk and don’t really remember it. I just remember my dad watching it all the time when I was a kid. I’d see a random scene and think “wait, what? What is happening here?” This whole premise is just wild as hell.

3. The Rock: $335M – Wow. A bit of an upset here if you ask me. I know there was some major star power in this movie and maybe that’s what drove the sales up so high, but I would not have thought The Rock would’ve made over $335M at the box office in 1996. Maybe that’s because I’ve been conditioned to think that only IP/brand movies make money these days…

2. National Treasure: $359M – Full disclosure here, folks – I love National Treasure, and I make no apologies for it. In fact, I love it so much that it’s one of about 12-15 movies that I watch at a certain time on the calendar each and every year. Something about it just has that “holiday movie without being a holiday movie” vibe to it. Night at the Museum has the same deal going for it. I can’t quite explain it, but I love watching it in between every Halloween and Thanksgiving.

1. National Treasure: Book of Secrets: $457M – No real surprise in my eyes that the National Treasure franchise takes up the top two spots on this list, and there’s no real surprise that the sequel made more than the first effort. I don’t think this one is as good as the first one, but that first one definitely had people hyped up and flocking to theaters.

The resident film critic of SoBros Network, Brandon Vick, and myself recently hopped on the mics to talk about Nicolas Cage’s filmography. You can subscribe to The Vick’s Flicks Podcast on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or simply smash that play button on the embed below! We had some audio issues for the first nine minutes of the show – just putting that out there now. Only one mic was recording, so I’m super quiet while Brandon is super loud. If you can’t take it, I get it – just fast forward to the 10-minute mark. We were just in such a groove that I hated to can the audio altogether.

Listen to “Ep. 104: Nicolas Cage” on Spreaker.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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